In rememberence of Alice Coltrane, JazzTimes looks back on her return to the spotlight with the 2004 release Translinear Light. Inviting her son Ravi as well as Charlie Haden and Jack DeJohnette to the recording session, the results were as stunning as the news that she was coming out of retirement. In a JazzTimes exclusive, Ashley Kahn was there to document the session.
Michael Brecker passed away on January 13, 2007 after a two year battle with Leukemia. It was during this battle that Bill Milkowski spoke with friends and colleagues to create a portrait of Brecker the man and the musician.
As companion to our June 2005 cover story on Sonny Rollins, we asked some of his counterparts to reflect on the impact of his life and art. What we couldn't run in print is available here.
As a supplement to the articles on pianist Tord Gustavsen and the overview “The Sound of Young Norway” in our May 2005 issue, we've created a list of links and recommendations to find out more about this exciting music scene and the people who make it happen.
Ashley Kahn was kind enough to give us the credits and sources from his November 2004 Elvin Jones timeline tribute. For those of you who can't get enough Elvin facts and figures, or if you doubt Elvin was actually in Guinea in May of '99, go ahead, dig in.
Marketing instrumental jazz has never been easy. It's a niche market, and one that requires a certain amount of intelligence, dedication and patience on the part of its customers. With attention spans flagging, the economy ailing and the music industry in the throes of a paradigm shift, many record labels are slowly but surely shifting away from risky releases like instrumental jazz and choosing to focus more on singers, who have the ability to appeal to a wider audience. Lara Pellegrinelli reports on how vocalists might be saving the jazz industry.
Not usually one to look back on previous work, keyboard maverick Joe Zawinul reflects on compositions on landmark albums by Weather Report, the legendary jazz-fusion supergroup he co-founded in 1970 with saxophonist Wayne Shorter.
Singer-songwriter Elvis Costello cut his teeth on and came to fame for the pub-n-punk rock anthems he wrote in the ’70s and ’80s but, as his more recent work indicates, that’s not all the man is about—Elvis digs the jazz. In a lengthy conversation with JazzTimes editor Christopher Porter, Costello talks about growing up in a jazz-friendly household, his fascination with Charles Mingus and the jazz musicians he’s featured on his past albums.
In March 2001, the Bay Area jazz organization SFJAZZ hosted a symposium on jazz and race issues that featured a panel discussion on the topic with professor/author Dr. Harry Edwards, saxophonist Steve Coleman, professor/author Dr. Angela Davis, author Nat Hentoff, Blue Note Records president Bruce Lundvall and author Richard M. Sudhalter. Originally printed in our Sept. 2001 issue in truncated form, here’s the full transcript.
